There has already been proposed a process for washing and cleaning solid materials, especially textiles, as well as suitable washing and cleaning agents for carrying out the process in which the function (builder) of the calcium complex binding phosphate is replaced entirely or partially by finely divided, generally bound water containing, water insoluble aluminum silicates capable of binding calcium (see German OS No. 2412837).
Thereby, it is a matter of compounds of the general formula I EQU (Cat.sub.2/n O).sub.x --Me.sub.2 O.sub.3 .multidot.(SiO.sub.2).sub.y I
in which Cat is a cation of valence n capable of exchanging with calcium, x is a number from 0.7 to 1.5, M is aluminum and y is a number from 0.8 to 6, preferably 1.3 to 4.
As cation there is preferably employed sodium but this can also be replaced by lithium, potassium, ammonium, or magnesium.
The above defined compounds capable of binding calcium in the following description for simplicity are called "aluminum silicate". This is also true for the preferably used sodium aluminum silicates, true for all additives made for the use of the invention and the total additives over whose production and properties correspond to the totality of all the above defined compounds.
The aluminum silicate especially suited for employment in washing and cleaning agents have a calcium binding capacity of preferably 50 to 200 mg CaO/g of the water free aluminum silicate. In the following when reference is made to water-free aluminum silicate there is meant the condition of the aluminum silicate which is reached after drying for one hour at 800.degree. C. In this drying there is removed practically completely both the adhering and the bound water.
In the production of washing or cleaning agents, in which besides the customary components of this type of agent there is present the abovedefined aluminum silicate, there is advantageously employed as starting material aluminum silicates which are moist, for example still moist from their production. Thereby there is mixed the moist compounds with at least one part of the remaining components of the agent being produced and the mixture is converted through known procedures such as for example spray drying into the finished washing or cleaning agent as final product, for example into a pourable product.
In the framework of the precedingly sketched process for the production of washing or cleaning agents the aluminum silicate is supplied or employed inter alia in the form of an aqueous suspension. Since transportation is carried out inter alia over long distances specific requirements are placed on the suspension properties, such as e.g. suspension stability and pumpability, of the aluminum silicate dispersed in the aqueous phase.
It is known to use alkylphenol ethylene adducts to stabilize aluminum silicate suspensions (German Patent OS No. 2615698, German Patent OS No. 3209631). There is attained a solids content of 50% and over.
Furthermore there are known suspensions which contain beside the alkali aluminum silicate as a stabilizer ethoxylation products containing 10 to 20 carbon atoms, preferably being ethxylation products of unsaturated alcohols with 1 to 8 ethylene oxide units per mole of the alcohol (German Patent OS No. 2527388, German Patent OS No. 2651698). With the dispersion agents of the last mentioned published applications previously there could only be reached a maximum solids concentration in the suspension of 38 wt. %.